Onesided feeding questions? And feeding in a sling?

[soon2befamilyof4]

Hello. I have posted a couple of times over the last week and have had some briliant help - thank you everybody. I know have some more questions:

• We have pretty much sorted feeding from my right boob, but always get problems on my left. I have no idea why! It has milk, although seem to take longer to get as much milk when it first came in??!?! And I can express perfectly from it but just end up with latching problems everytime I try with the leftside and I am finding it quit painful. The last 24hours or so, I have given up and just fed from my right side for an easy life sort of thing, and have expressed from my left side every time I am feeling "full". It has made life easier and BF is a lot less stressfull now for both of us, my nipple on that side is finally healing (both sides were bleeding, cracked and V V sore). And it seems to be working well.

But is there any reason why I shouldn't only feed from my right side? I have never heard of people only feeding from one side so wasn't sure if it is just a silly idea . I just want to make BF work really. TBH before my milk came in I was SO tempted to go and get a carton of formula as my nipples were so sore and BF was so stressfull. We have come a long way since then and I am not finding formula tempting at all (although thank goodness for my over supply of milk meaning I have a supple of EBM!). If I carry on just feeding from my right, will I be able to start over again with my left boob in a week or 2 when I am more confident and less tired?

ON another note, I would love to be able to feed in a sling. I have both the ring sling and then Close baby carrier but havent used with of them yet. (did breifly try the ring with DD1 but didnt get on with it - didn't really give it much of a chance though). Should I wait till we are much more confident with BF, or might using a sling help with it? I also have problems getting her to feed at times. She goes from feeding non stop to sleeping through the night with no feeds. I have been told she needs to feed at least every 3 hours at least because she is Jaundice and has lost 7% of her birth weight. So thought being in a sling, with lots of skin to skin might help? Plus we keep visiting people and would love to be able to BF in the sling without anybody seeing as otherwise I end up in another room on my own!

bump

I've been feeding for 3.5 years straight and still havea preference for one side.

am no expert but think provided you keep expressing you would be fine to have a break from feeding on your dodgy side. your main risk is getting mastitis and you might end up looking a bit lopsided if you let one side's supply dwindle permanently.

i'd be inclined to wait on feeding in a sling as it's yet another thing to learn - probably a bit much for you at the moment - establishing bf is enough. use the sling when you're not bfing though as you're right that will help.

7% of birth weight isn't too much of a loss - anything under 10 is fine, IIRCC

Thank you. Do you know the signs of mastitis? I have white lumps on my dogdy side - could this be what is causing the pain? I had them when I was feeding DD1 last year but didnt use MN then and never bothered seeing anybody about it so just let it pass. Wondering if that is why it is painfull to feed? They are on the area around the nipple? Only one main one and a few tiny ones?

Sorry, only just seen this. Am no expert.

I don't think the lumps you describe are mastitis. Mastitis is feeling hot, shivery, painful boob and the milk tastes salty.

Do the lumps hurt? Probably worth asking your mw or a BFC or HV.

I had similar issues with dd - except for us, she was fine feeding from the left, but struggled to latch on the right. Are you left handed by any chance ??

I did the same as you and just expressed lots off the right side by unfortunately, I don't think a pump is as effective as removing milk as a baby so eventually, my supply did lessen on one side (to the point where I had very odd sized norks ). I was advised to always put dd on the "bad" breast first, so she could try and get some out whilst she was hungry, then switch to the "good" breast and then back to the other one again after (as well as the expressing). It was a pain, but the more she fed from the bad side, the easier it became tbh.

Have you tried a different position ? I always struggled in the cradle hold, but could feed ok from the bad side when lying down (I never got to grips with rugby ball hold, but understand that is good for some people)